Private investigator linked to owner of escort service
Documents show ties in Miller firing controversy
The documents indicate ties between several players in the controversy surrounding District Attorney Lohra Miller and her decision to fire a longtime prosecutor for allegedly leaking confidential information to a criminal defendant. The documents show:
• The private investigator, Shane Johnson, jointly obtained documents with the defendant accused of leading a prostitution ring, Steve Maese, about the police chief who headed the probe into Maese's former escort service.
• Johnson works for Todd Gabler, a Springdale-based private investigator who was hired by an unnamed client to investigate Miller's private life and then continued to investigate her on his own after his "client could no longer pay for (his) services."
• Maese is the man to whom Miller believes former veteran prosecutor Kent Morgan was leaking secret information.
The documents obtained by the Deseret News through public-records requests show that Johnson, who spent weeks casing Miller's home and following her to private clubs, jointly obtained audio recordings of a City Council meeting with Maese, who is scheduled to go on trial this summer for several counts of exploiting a prostitute, money laundering and racketeering.
Gabler, Johnson's boss, recently revealed that his firm tailed Miller's vehicles, rifled through her trash, videotaped her home and placed a GPS tracking device on her car — all actions Gabler insists are legal and in no way an invasion of the district attorney's privacy.
Gabler wouldn't confirm that Johnson works for him — "That information would be considered proprietary," he said — but documents obtained by the newspaper show that Johnson cased Miller's home and followed her cars in December 2007 and January 2008 and filed a report under the letterhead of Rudiger Investigations, a company that Gabler is listed as the registered agent with for the Utah Department of Commerce.
Maese, who was charged Thursday with class A misdemeanor stalking and third-degree felony witness tampering for allegedly harassing a witness in his case, declined Friday to comment on his relationship with Johnson. Johnson didn't return telephone calls from the Deseret News.
While this doesn't prove that Maese was the driving force behind the private investigation into Miller's private life, it does show that Maese is connected to several controversial players in county politics.
Recent comments
Even if Lohra Miller is a liar and a horrible DA, that has nothing...
Anonymous | May 7, 2008 at 1:43 p.m.
There is no free speech here. The Miller's can call others liars...
CCD | May 6, 2008 at 8:05 a.m.
what is up with this why cant I leave a comment
greggory | May 5, 2008 at 9:14 a.m.
